SALISBURY, Md. — Needing to complete a two-point conversion to send their second round NCAA Division 3 playoff game to a fourth overtime session, Kean senior quarterback Thomas D’Ambrisi took the snap.

D’Ambrisi floated outside of the pocket to his right before spotting an open receiver cutting across the back of the Salisbury University end-zone. D’Ambrisi’s throw was on target, but it fell incomplete as the intended receiver slipped and fell to the ground.

While it may have been unjust, that a slip of the foot ultimately ended the Cougars’ season, as they fell to the Sea Gulls, 49-47, in triple overtime.

“I don’t cry much, and it’s not a man thing, but it was tough (for the game to end that way,)” said Cougars coach Dan Garrett. “I’m proud of these guys. To lose this way, to battle back to get to have a chance to win it in the first overtime. Battle back in the second overtime and to get to the third overtime, knowing what you need and we answered and then not to execute the final play is just heartbreaking. It’s devastating and it tears my heart out to see these guys lose that way, not so much for me, but just to see the pain that they went through.”

After failing to stop the Salisbury offense for most of the day, Kean’s defense was able to produce a key three-and-out late in the fourth quarter to get the ball back.

Trailing by seven with under five minutes to play the Cougars leaned on their running game to get in scoring position.

Senior Chris DiMicco, who finished the day with 155 yards on 20 carries, ran the ball three straight times to open the series, picking up 20 yards in the process. DiMicco would get the call again on a second-and-10 from the Salisbury 28, rushing up the gut for 9 yards before picking up a first down on the following play.

D’Ambrisi then hooked up with Matt Pitarresi who reeled in a 16-yard pass, to give the Cougars a first-and-goal from the Salisbury 2-yard line.

Junior running back Darius Kinney would break into the end zone on the next play, scoring his second of three touchdowns on the day with just 45 seconds remaining in regulation.

With momentum clearly on their side heading into overtime, the Cougars defense was able to stop the Sea Gulls offense and force a 34-yard field-goal attempt that sailed wide to the left.

Kean had a chance to take their first lead of the day, and end the game, on their corresponding possession in overtime as senior kicker Billy Daniels lined up a 31-yard field-goal attempt. But Daniels’ attempt never had a shot as it came out low.

“He didn’t get enough height on the kick,” Garrett said. “They had great penetration but the kick hit our center in the back, so it just never got any height.”

Undeterred the Cougars came back and opened the second overtime with a touchdown carried in from 1 yard out by Kinney, to give Kean a 41-34 lead.

That lead didn’t last long however, as Salisbury’s Dan Griffin completed a 25-yard pass to Ross Flanigan on the following play.

In the third overtime, Griffin hit Juma Richards on a wide receiver screen that gave Salisbury a first-and-goal from the 8-yard line. Salisbury’s Randal Smedley, who finished the day with 202 yards and two touchdowns on 26 carries, would complete the job scoring from 2 yards out before Flanigan converted the mandatory two-point conversion on a quarterback keeper.

Facing a fourth-and-12, trailing 49-41, it looked like the Cougars’ luck had run out, but D’Ambrisi had one last trick up his sleeve.

The quarterback rolled out to his right and found a wide open Chris Suozzo in the front corner of the end zone for the 27-yard touchdown strike. The Cougars hoped to tie the game on the following play, but the two-point conversion pass from D’Ambrisi found only the artificial turf.

“Our quarterback made a heck of a play and found him open on fourth down,” explained Garrett. “We had the call that we knew was our best two-point call, he was open and we threw the ball right to the kid, but he just slipped. (D’Ambrisi) put the ball where it had to be, but that’s what happens sometimes.”

Salisbury advances to play Wisconsin-Whitewater on Saturday in the quarterfinal round of the Division 3 NCAA playoffs.